In Leviticus 23; 40 Moses conveys the Torah’s commandment: “On the first day [of the Festival of Sukkot] you must take hold for yourself… Fruit of the Beautiful Tree…” Using cryptic language, the scripture does not clearly identify the fruit it speaks of.
This in-depth mini-series focuses on the page in Masechet Sukkah that records the teachings of our Sages about this very question. Here, the Talmud sets out to solve the mystery of the enigmatic Etrog’s ID once and for all!
To be sure, our sacred oral tradition has always identified it as the Citron, yet is there any proof for this in the biblical text itself? The words of our Sages are richly illuminated by the multi-layered commentaries of the medieval and modern era.
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Episode Three: “THE WAY OF WATER”
Having dug into the scriptural strata to uncover biblical roots on the identity of the Torah’s Beautiful Fruit, we’ve already hit paydirt twice!
In “THE WAY OF WATER,” our third Episode of the series we will move on to radically Redefined Beauty and eventually end up a Creek in Greek!
In our immediate past Episode, the hunt for a Positive ID on the Torah’s Mystery Fruit had us linking harvest biodiversity and sheepish commonality.
Here we find an alternative method, which isn’t that different etymologically speaking. We begin by revealing a new dimension of Botanical Beauty thtas’ born out of the same continuous dwelling we’ve already alluded to.
A final and even more innovative reading takes in kindred but different direction. This approach will lead us to go with the flow of all waters. Or in plain Greek, we seem to be heading up a Creek!
This third segment of the series on The Etrog is generously sponsored “L’ilui Nishmat” Yosef ben Menachem OBM.
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